Jelena Ostapenko’s French Open victory @ Roland Garros is the greatest ever individual achievement by a Latvian athlete.

Jelena’s talent is undeniable, but talent must be nurtured and harnessed for it to reach its full potential.

After her daughter’s victory, Jelena’s mother mentioned in an interview, that it had cost the family about 500,000 EUR to train their champion daughter:LINK: Ostapenko (in Latvian)
“Now Aļona earns on her own, but in her childhood there were people that helped. Everyone helped as best they could. It takes a lot of money to raise an athlete. To get Aļona into the WTA top 100 ranking, we needed about half a million” said Jeļena Jakoļeva
(«Tagad Aļona pati pelna, bet bērnībā bija cilvēki, kuri palīdzēja. Visi pēc savas iespējas palīdzēja. Nepieciešama liela summa, lai izaudzinātu sportistu. Lai ievestu Aļonu WTA ranga pirmajā simtniekā, mums kopā vajadzēja ap pusmiljonu,» atklāja Jeļena Jakovļeva.)

Obviously Jelena is a supernova talent (her mother also said that her daughter was strong and fearless since the day she was born!), but the fact of the matter is, that for the vast majority of children, no amount of money spent on tennis lessons will come close to guaranteeing a French Open championship. But what about helping nurture other strengths and talents that might not be perceivable at a very young age? What if you invested a similar amount (40,000 euro per year for twelve years) in the S&P500 index from 2004 until 2016 rather than paying for tennis lessons?

It turns out that your invested capital of 480,000 euro would have grown to approximately 912,000 euro – a return of 90%!

This amount of savings could cover tuition and living expenses at the world’s most prestigious universities, perhaps seed a start up business, and much, much more…

The point is, your child might not be destined to become a French Open champion, but by starting to invest early for your child’s future, you could provide them with a world of financial security and opportunity. Here at BlueOrange Asset Management, we have created a booklet for parents that outlines how you can get started in investing for your child’s future.

Please feel free to contact us to find out more about our Children’s Investment Trusts at asset@blueorangebank.com

FULL DISCLOSURE: Please note that the opinions expressed in this blog should in no way be considered as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities.